Tough situations have brought out the best in Daniel Bard

Tuesday

Daniel Bard has the right traits to be especially effective with runners on base -- he's a pitcher who can get a strikeout or a double-play groundball when they're needed the most.

Daniel Bard has the right traits to be especially effective withrunners on base -- he's a pitcher who can get a strikeout or adouble-play groundball when they're needed the most.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

On May 23 in Cleveland, Daniel Bard entered the game with arunner on second and one out in the eighth, charged with protectingBoston's one-run lead. After getting a pop-up from Carlos Santana,he surrendered back-to-back hits by Michael Brantley and AsdrubalCabrera that cost the Red Sox the game.

That sequence is notable because it's so uncommon in the 2011canon of Red Sox contests. Daniel Bard inherited a runner, and hedidn't strand him.

All the way back in the spring, manager Terry Francona delightedin the idea of using Bard as "the ultimate weapon" out of thebullpen. The right-hander's versatility and his electric stuffmeant Francona didn't have to pigeonhole him into an eighth-inningrole all the time. If there was trouble earlier, he could trustBard to get out of it. A.L. leadersInherited runners scored

Al Albuquerque, Det., 1/22 (4.5%)

Alex Burnett, Min., 2/23 (8.7%)

Chad Durbin, Cle., 2/19 (10.5%)

Boone Logan, NYY, 2/18 (11.1%)

Daniel Bard, Bos., 2/17 (11.8%)

Through almost one-half of the season, Bard has rewarded thatconfidence. Entering Tuesday night, he had inherited 17 runnersthis season and stranded all but two of them. The Indians got himin May, and the Padres got him for a run-scoring groundout with thebases loaded last week. He's done the job so well that, whenJonathan Papelbon was suspended for two games earlier this month,Francona wasn't sure he wanted to take Bard out of his current roleand make him the closer over those two days.

"I'd hate trying to get to the ninth inning staying away fromhim," Francona said, pointing out just how valuable Bard is ingetting to Papelbon.

Those basic figures - 17 inherited, 15 stranded - don't capturejust how good Bard has been in cleaning up others' messes. Most ofthe American League relievers who have done a better job strandingrunners this season are lefty specialists, responsible for only abatter or two. Bard is almost always called upon to finish theinning, and usually to go one more.

The run he allowed San Diego was the first he'd yielded in threetries coming in with the bases loaded and one out. Ten of the 14runners he's stranded were inherited in scoring position.

"That's what he does," said Clay Buchholz way back in April,when Bard extricated the Sox from a bases-loaded, one-out jam."That's definitely not the position you want to leave a relieverin, because you know they're going out there thinking they don'twant to give up runs for the starter and they don't want to get hitaround. So that's why he's that guy. He's a big presence in ourbullpen."

For a pitcher who began his professional career as a starter,the transition to a shutdown reliever isn't always easy. Andlearning how to quash rallies mid-inning may be the hardestpart.

"You can't really get used to it in the minors," said Bard."One, the games don't mean anything, and two, it's just a wholedifferent ballgame once you do it in the big leagues. You do it 10,20, 30 times, you learn about it from experience and get used toit."

It is something, however, that Bard has excelled at pretty muchfrom his first day in the majors. It's fitting to look back and seethat his big-league debut came with runners on second and third andno outs against the Angels in May 2009. He limited the damage to arun on a sacrifice fly.

What makes Bard so good in those spots isn't complicated. He hasthe perfect stuff for it. That means he's a strikeout andground-ball pitcher - one with the capability to prevent a hitterfrom putting the ball in play at all, or to induce an inning-endingdouble play. This season, Bard's ground-ball to fly-ball ratio is acareer-best 1.76 to 1.

"He's actually perfect," said pitching coach Curt Young. "Whenhe comes in from the bullpen with people on, you need either astrikeout or a ground ball."

It's his ability to pick up crucial strikeouts, however, thatmakes Bard so useful in those spots. It's how he got Buchholz outof the jam in Oakland, punching out Cliff Pennington with the basesloaded and one out.

Bard admitted he pitches a bit differently in those spots.

"Those are the times when you actually do have to come in andpitch for a strikeout. Especially if you have a base open, you knowyou can afford to do that," he said. "You're not going to establisha fastball strike one necessarily right down the middle like youwould with nobody on base. That ball's probably going to be put inplay. Most guys get more aggressive with guys in scoring position,so I try to take advantage of that."

And the Red Sox have taken advantage of having Bard to solvetheir late-inning crises.

"It's a great feeling," pitching coach Curt Young said. "You'realways trying to push your starter as far as you can. If he's notable to finish his own inning, you have a guy like Daniel Bard tocome in and clean things up."

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